The SWCA Fall Writer’s Conference starts tomorrow! I will be getting up at Oh-God-Hundred to drive back down to the beach for this. It’s a 4 and 1/2 hour drive so I’ll leave in plenty of time to take breaks and get out to stretch my legs. Also in time to get in line at Starbucks!
The panel discussions I’m going to include a Tailgate Workshop on “How to Pitch Your Book” (With Leigh Stein), who is also doing a talk on “Plotting Begins With Character.” I’m also planning to attend “Submission Strategies,” “Setting as Structure,” and “How to Build a Writing Career in the Carolinas.” Tomorrow night we have a “Mix & Mingle” and Saturday evening is Open Mic and a “Pop-Up Book Mart” where you can sell or trade your books with other authors. There is also a slushfest, where editors read your first page and talk about why they would or would not read further, a queryfest, where agents do the same for your book’s query letter, and several keynote speeches that look interesting. Breakfast & lunch are provided and there’s a restaurant at the hotel for dinners. So far, there are at least 5 of us going out of the Greenville Chapter, which means we can sit together and not be uncomfortably alone in the crowd!
I need to finish packing tonight … just taking my little “carry on” suitcase and putting everything else in my laptop bag. I’ll take around 10 copies of each of the anthologies, just on the off chance that they sell at the pop-up book mart (of course, I may trade them and come back with just as many books as I leave home with). And this time, unlike my previous week at the beach, I will remember to pack my 7:00pm medications (had to have one of those transferred down to the local CVS so I wouldn’t do without)!
